Love and War
by Mystwalker
Summary: An Another Side AU Valentine's Special, pairing chosen by the readers. Sephiroth and Cissnei can't seem to catch a break, but that's what they get for being so good at what they do. Set one year after the events of the main game. Sephissnei, with hints of Cloti, Zerith, and Yuffentine.


**Love and War**

**An Another Side Valentine's Special**

**By:**

**Mystwalker**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

**A/N**: Well, you guys picked Sephissnei, which gave me the interesting challenge of trying to write a Valentine's Day special for _that _particular couple without making it cheesy or OOC. Because of that, I think this turned out less romantic than some of you were hoping for and a little more on the humorous side. Hope it works out anyway!

Next **Another Story** update will be next Wednesday. Sorry for the delay, I'll try and squeeze in 2 a week sometime in the future to make up for it.

XxXxX

Cissnei didn't consider herself to be particularly romantic. Traits like that didn't tend to last too long in the Turks, and given who she was seeing, she was fairly certain that if she actually _cared _about romantic gestures, they wouldn't have made it past day one. Still, there was a large difference between expecting breakfast in bed every morning and a dozen roses at night and expecting not to get sent halfway around the world three days before your first Valentine's Day to run around in the desert stopping an uprising. She folded her arms, staring at the man behind the desk.

"You want us to what?" she asked.

"Stabilize the situation," said Reeve, clasping his hands together on top of the table. "The rebuilding of Old Corel will start next week. We can't have rebel gangs coming out of the woodwork and attacking the building crews. We've been monitoring this situation for weeks."

"Yes," said Cissnei. "_We _have, but the last I checked, you also approved our leave for this weekend." She glanced behind her at Sephiroth, looking for support, but the ex-SOLDIER simply frowned at Reeve, saying nothing. She sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

_No help from that quarter, _she figured. Even the best SOLDIERs were often lost on the finer points of arguing with authority.

"Conditional leave, to be retracted in the case of an emergency," said Reeve. "Bombing the coal plants providing power to the build site and the new town qualifies as an emergency. I don't need to imagine where _they _got that idea from." He frowned at them. Cissnei shrugged, in response, unapologetic. Desperate times had called for desperate measures back then.

"You have other agents," she said. "What about Yuffie and Vincent?"

"Yuffie," said Reeve, "has barricaded herself in her apartment and declared it part of the territory of Wutai and thus a sovereign nation, effective until February 15."

"And?" asked Sephiroth, the only thing he had said since Reeve called them in here in the first place.

"Given her ambassadorial duties, she's technically right," said Reeve.

"And Vincent?" asked Cissnei.

"A guest of the state." From Reeve's quick, curt tone, Cissnei guessed that he'd been dealing with the ninja girl for a long time. He took a deep breath. "Look," he said. "I understand that this is inconvenient. I wouldn't be asking you if I had any other choice, but I don't trust anyone else to get this done."

Cissnei exhaled, relenting, and lowered her arms to her side. So much for the weekend in Costa del Sol. "Fine," she said. "How long do you want us there?"

"Long enough to secure the perimeter until WRO reinforcements can come in force. I'd estimate that that would be around the same time as the main building crews get there. There's a WRO contingent already in place—Sephiroth, I'd be putting you in command of operations there. I can fill you in on the details later."

"Understood," said Sephiroth with a nod.

"And let me guess," said Cissnei. "You want me running intelligence?"

Reeve gave her a tired smile. "If you'd be so kind," he said. "I want to know everything about the factions currently operating out of the Corel Area—who their leaders are, how they work, and how many of them can be persuaded to side with us."

"You'll fill me in on what you already know?" asked Cissnei.

Reeve nodded. "Of course."

"And if I were to make use of…resources outside of the organization?"

He frowned, pausing for a moment as he considered this. "I'd trust your judgment," he finally said. "And," as an afterthought, "your _discretion_."

"You should know me better than that," said Cissnei, giving him a wry smile. "We'll be on the ground by noon tomorrow."

"I'm pleased to hear it," said Reeve, picking up the sheaf of papers in front of him and starting to sort through it. "Take what you need from the equipment stores. The _Highwind _is on standby to lift you out."

He looked away from them, turning back to his paperwork. It was a universal gesture for dismissal. Cissnei turned, exchanging a glance with Sephiroth as the two of them left the office, making their way down the corridors of the makeshift building appropriated for the WRO's use. Construction was still underway on a more permanent headquarters—it was expected to be completed before the summer. Given how hot Midgar Wasteland summers tended to be, Cissnei firmly hoped that the new building would have reliable air-conditioning. They rounded the corner, heading down the stairs towards the organization's stores. Neither of them spoke until they were well out of earshot of Reeve's office or anyone else that happened to be listening in.

"Resources outside of the organization?" Sephiroth asked, when they were in a long stretch of reasonably empty hallway.

"The Turks," said Cissnei, shrugging. "And ex-Turks. If things are going bad in Corel, it's hard to imagine that they haven't been looking into it too."

"You think they'll know something about the situation with the gangs?" asked Sephiroth.

Cissnei snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if I found Reno undercover as a gang leader's second in command. Especially if the gang leader is a beautiful woman."

"It's hard to imagine he gets any work done."

"That's what makes him effective," said Cissnei. "He's so easy to underestimate. Unlike the two of us. Everyone unfortunately knows that we're good at what we do."

Sephiroth said nothing, the two of them falling silent as a group of recruits rushed past, off-duty, by the looks of it, and in a hurry to get to the door. While most of the recruit training was done at the main base outside of Edge, there were always soldiers moving in and out of this floor of the building, reporting in before going out to do their rounds of the new city. Without any actual fortifications, and with a steady influx of people still coming in from the ruins of Midgar's slums, the city was far from ideal.

"What about you?" she asked, once the group had passed. "What are your thoughts on this?"

There was a pause. "I'm wondering…," he finally said. "how we let Yuffie find a loophole before we did."

"Why, Sephiroth," said Cissnei, pleasantly surprised. "I do believe I've corrupted you."

"It was bound to happen at some point," was the dry reply.

"Right," said Cissnei. "Well, let's just get in there and get this done. You talk to Cid and see about doing an early morning flight. I'll go tell Cloud and Tifa that they might as well make use of the villa while we're gone."

_And see about getting something for the trip, _she added silently to herself, turning away from the WRO headquarters and walking towards the Seventh Heaven bar. She had a feeling they would need it.

XxXxX

As far as romantic getaway locations went, the WRO's Corel Outpost was ranked somewhere between the Northern Crater and the Shinra Mansion laboratory. It wasn't much more than a few buildings of questionable stability mixed with a collection of tents. Still, at least it was warm, considering the rest of the world was still gripped in the throes of a particularly harsh winter, and while it wasn't sunny Costa del Sol, it was still within a day's reach of the Gold Saucer—a fact that became instantly apparent when they stepped off the _Highwind _to find a multitude of tire tracks and chocobo prints crossing over themselves in the sand, all heading in some approximate manner towards the large theme park.

"Reeve's insane," said Cissnei, as the two of them helped Cid and the WRO troops unload the supplies the _Highwind _had brought along with it.

Sephiroth said nothing, lifting a box of apples easily and setting it on the ground.

"I mean it," said Cissnei, leaning against the box of medical supplies she had pushed from the _Highwind's _cargo hold. "The stress finally got to him. Someone needs to do something."

She got a noncommittal grunt in reply. Cissnei turned towards him, wondering how he could fail to see this.

"Valentine's Day in the Gold Saucer," she said. "Tourists from _everywhere _coming in. A security nightmare, and he wants to get this place secure within the next _week_?"

"Well," said Sephiroth, walking off to meet the outpost's current commanding officer. "That's why we're here."

XxXxX

The rest of the day was spent assessing the situation. While Sephiroth busied himself with examining the outpost's security and familiarizing himself with the troops, Cissnei went to work collating reports and contacting sources. She had already spent a good portion of the night and this morning's flight going over the information Reeve had sent her, and was now adding that to the stories and information possessed by the Corel troops, along with what she could see with her own eyes.

A former colleague and a Corel native, Chris, had been very helpful in filling her in on the reputations of the reported gang leaders, and while she hadn't felt the need to contact Tseng or any of the Turks currently on active duty, Chris had also dropped the hint that Shinra had a presence in the area. Between the knowledge that that resource was available if she was willing to risk it, and the names Chris had given her of insider contacts that might be…persuaded to help her, she managed to cobble together the beginnings of a plan. By the end of the day, she had teased a mostly coherent narrative out of the piles of witness statements, rumors, lies, and genuine information in front of her, and had arranged a meeting with an insider who would get her into the old Corel Prison, where a number of gangs had their base of operations.

She leaned back in her seat in the command tent, stretching over the back of her chair and feeling pleased with herself as she watched the fading sun come in through the flaps that served as windows. Night would fall soon, which meant that Sephiroth would be back and they could exchange reports and plans for the next day. And while she didn't know what Sephiroth was planning, she was fairly certain that barring any emergencies, they were both off-duty for the night. Maybe they could make something out of this Valentine's Day after all. She briefly considered a trip to the Gold Saucer, then shook her head, watching the theme park's lights begin to flicker on through the north-facing windows of her tent. She remembered how uncomfortable Sephiroth had been with the crowds when they came through last year, with AVALANCHE. Gold Saucer would easily double those crowds tonight. Besides, she thought, as she reached up and tangled her fingers in the silver chain hanging around her neck, they didn't exactly have the best memories of that place.

A quiet night in the command tent, then. They could do worse. With that in mind, Cissnei walked off to their quarters, deciding to start putting together tomorrow's disguise.

XxXxX

"Well? Do I look rebellious enough?"

Sephiroth looked up from the report he was reading, glancing in the direction of the voice.

"Where's the rest of your shirt?" he asked.

Cissnei rested her hand on her waist. "Well, it's not like I'll be using this swimsuit in Costa del Sol, so I figured I could use it here," she said. "Besides, it worked for Yuffie."

She was dressed like a proper desert brigand, in loose-fitting cargo pants and boots, with a khaki shirt unbuttoned and hanging across her back and shoulders. Beneath the shirt, she wore the swimsuit top that she had been planning to wear at Costa del Sol, a black one she had bought to replace her yellow tankini, which was reaching the end of its natural life. A thin curved blade hung loosely from her belt behind her, along with a dagger and a holstered gun that looked like it had seen better days. Her dark red hair hung unbound for now, falling in waves up to her shoulders. She thought the scuff marks on the boots, the poor fit of her pants, and the frayed texture of the shirt were a nice touch.

"I'll have a fake tan on tomorrow and the whole outfit will be suitably sand-covered," she said. She reached a hand up, hooking a finger around a strand of hair. "I'm also thinking about going black-haired for this one—it's more common in this area. And fake tattoos."

He nodded, looking up from the report to take a second glance at the weapons she had carried. "Can you use a sword?" he asked, brows raised.

"Reasonably," she said with a shrug. "But bringing Rekka in with me will be a dead giveaway. Besides, it's more for show, just like it is with a lot of these thugs. I have to be a career street tough, remember, not a master martial artist." She noticed his eyes moving towards the gun and smiled, resting a hand on it. "The gun's also more functional than it looks. And I have an earring that will work as both a wire and a GPS tracker, if things go south quickly."

He gave her outfit another once over, gave a nod and another noncommittal grunt in reply, and turned back towards his work. She walked over to the chair in front of him, taking a seat and propping her feet up on an empty crate someone had brought in to serve as a table. Was it just her imagination, or did he glance her way before quickly glancing back at his work again? Cissnei lowered her head to hide her smirk, drawing her arms up over her head and stretching languidly. Oh yes, he did glance her way, and she thought she saw a hint of interest in his eyes before he buried himself back in paperwork.

She had him.

"So," she said, casually shifting position and making it so that her feet just _happened _to brush across the side of his leg as she did so. "How are things going in the camp?"

"As well as can be expected," said Sephiroth, studiously not looking at her. "They've done what they can to keep the place secure, but the location is particularly vulnerable. The mountains offer some protection, but the tunnels in them are currently occupied by the former prisoners, so that's more of a threat than an advantage, at least until we can clear them out. That isn't going to be viable until the reinforcements come."

She nodded, considering the situation. She remembered what Chris had showed her of the network of abandoned mine tunnels that snaked under the mountainside all underneath Corel. Criminal gangs could hide in there for months, fighting over territory and supplies without being spotted, and any attempt to flush them out would just send them deeper into their holes. Without a substantial force or better knowledge of the tunnel networks, it wouldn't be hard for a small group to lure attackers into the tunnels and pick them off one-by-one. With the forces they had now, going into the tunnels would be walking into a death trap. Far easier to arrange a collapse of the enemy hierarchy from the inside, which was what Cissnei was attempting to do.

That, however, was tomorrow's objective. Tonight's objective was much…simpler.

"Think you're done for the day?" she asked.

He looked up at her, and she caught the suspicion in his eyes, along with something else, something that sent a shiver down her spine. "Why?" he asked.

"Because," said Cissnei, lowering her feet back to the ground and leaning forward. "I was thinking we might take a break."

She inched closer, sliding out of her seat and crossing the few feet between them so that she was standing in front of him. She glanced briefly at the tent flap, making sure it was closed—an old habit of hers left over from her Turk days—before giving him a playful smirk. His eyebrows arched briefly in response, but he didn't move as she leaned forward, threading strands of silken silver hair through her fingers.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his breath warm against her skin.

She met his eyes as she leaned in—they were curiously half-lidded. She supported herself with one hand propped up on the back of his chair; her other hand left his hair to rest on the back of his neck. She felt the slightest tremor beneath her fingertips as she traced lazy circles there—his expression was otherwise unchanged. "I'm thinking…" she said, her mouth scant inches from his, "…that we don't have to make a total waste of today after all."

He didn't say anything, but she felt his acquiescence in the way he relaxed at her touch, his eyes also moving briefly towards the entrance. She offered him another smirk as they returned to her.

"What do you think…" she asked. "…_General?" _

"I think…" A hand landed on her waist—the touch was tentative, but she felt fire run through her veins at the contact. The papers in his other hand rustled as he put them away. "a break might be…," She leaned closer. "overdue…"

Her smirk faltered against his lips, the barest brush, as he drew her to him.

It was the closest thing to a romantic moment they had had since Reeve's briefing yesterday afternoon.

So, of course the damn alarm was going to ring.

Cissnei muttered a very colorful curse under her breath, straightening up and springing back. Sephiroth got to his feet, Masamune already in hand as his eyes moved towards the tent flap. Outside, she heard the sound of gunfire, followed by shouts and the clash of steel on steel. She folded her arms across her chest, annoyed.

"Looks like our new friends decided to pay a visit," she said.

"I'm going out there," said Sephiroth.

"I can't be seen like this," said Cissnei, gesturing at her outfit. "Cover for me. I'll be there in a minute."

He nodded, heading out the door just as she ran deeper into the tent, heading for their quarters. Cissnei exploded out of her costume once the door was closed behind her, shoving the disguise and all of its accoutrements into the hidden pocket of her pack and pulling on her usual clothes. She picked Rekka up from its place on the floor with the rest of her things, and loaded and holstered a proper gun. She was just heading for the tent door when a pair of bandits burst in, one of them brandishing a curved sword as the other held a rifle up at her.

Rekka flew, taking the gun-wielder between the eyes. She had her pistol in her hand before the swordsman could react—the shot went straight through the heart. Cissnei grabbed Rekka on the way out, plunging into the fray.

In the end, it only took the better part of an hour to drive the brigands out of the camp and retreat back into the mountain, but they then spent the next several hours protecting themselves as small, isolated groups seemed to sprout from the mountainside like rats, shooting down at the camp while their attention was focused elsewhere. It took the better part of the night to beat them back soundly enough that they were thoroughly discouraged from trying any more tricks. By the time the exhausted defenders staggered back to their tents at three in the morning, covered in dirt, sand, sweat and who knew what else and starving for no apparent reason other than the fact that they had just fought a series of scattered skirmishes in a desert in the middle of the night, Cissnei was willing to concede that Reeve may have been right about having an emergency on their hands.

She was also reminded of why she'd chosen a career path that usually kept her _out _of large-scale conflicts. Infiltrating a fortress and assassinating its commander, yes, throwing herself against a wall of troops, _not likely_.

But mostly, she was reminded of how quickly exhaustion could set in after a long fight, and didn't bother to do more than strip off her shoes, vest, and weapons before collapsing face first onto the bed. She kept a knife in hand, just in case, and slid it under her pillow as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

Or would have, if a voice didn't bring her back.

"Siege."

Cissnei's eyes drifted open, and she turned to the side, frowning at the ex-SOLDIER who was sitting on the other side of the bed, his back turned towards her. She propped her head up with her hand, ignoring her body's protests at the fact that she was still awake. "What?" she asked groggily. She couldn't have been asleep more than five minutes—a glance at the clock told her it had been more like three.

"Their arrangements in the mines aren't too different from how Wutai troops stationed themselves at their fortresses, aside from the greater number of entrances and exits. But if we can find the majority of those points, we could set up a siege perimeter around each one, effectively limiting their movement and the movement of supplies…"

She blinked, and it took her a moment to register that he was talking strategy. At three in the morning. After a battle. When she still had to wake up and play secret agent at a reasonable time the next day.

"Sephiroth," she said, interrupting him. "_Go to sleep." _

He looked over his shoulder at her, a puzzled frown on his face. Cissnei rolled her eyes in irritation, turning over on her other side so that she was facing away from him and closing her eyes again. There was a pause, and then she felt him shift and move, and she saw the light go off behind closed eyelids. She waited for him to settle, and relented, stretching out and seeking the warmth by her side.

They were back-to-back—it was safer this way. In case another attack came up, they wouldn't be falling all over themselves trying to get out of bed and deal with it, and they could easily defend from both sides in case the attack found its way into the command tent. She was also fairly certain that just as she kept a knife under her pillow and Rekka within arm's reach, Masamune was propped up with its hilt near his side of the bed. He slept on his right, so that his left hand was free to grab it—in her case it didn't matter. She was better with her right, but she could stab equally well with both hands.

It wasn't the most romantic thing, she thought, as she pulled her blanket up over her shoulders. Zack and Aerith would probably tease them about spending their first Valentine's Day fighting a war—if either of them had been here to hear about it. But she supposed it would have to do.

And, she added, smiling softly as she let sleep take her, it said a lot about them that even in sleep, they had each other's backs.

**THE END**


End file.
